DETROIT — Bill Parcells used to build football teams around two types of players: stars, and ‘hold-the-fort’ guys.

You pay the stars, and hope the rest of the guys ‘hold the fort’ until reinforcements come, in the form of younger stars from the draft or free agency.

It’s not really that much different in any of the other major sports.

With the conclusion of the World Series Wednesday night, everybody in baseball will be scrambling to determine if they can make upgrades to their roster through free agency — which starts next week — or if they should stick with their own ‘hold the fort’ guys.

Advertisement

The Detroit Tigers have decisions to make in the next five days, as well, concerning a half-dozen of their own free-agents-to-be.

Do they stick with ‘hold-the-fort’ guys like closer Joaquin Benoit, second baseman Omar Infante and shortstop-turned-outfielder Jhonny Peralta? Or do they let them go, anticipating they can replace them in free agency, or knowing they have a replacement groomed behind them?

All three of those players at one point or another settled a previously tumultuous position.

And all three may have reached the stage where the Tigers have to decide if they want to continue to have them holding the fort, or if they want to risk uncertainty at those positions again.

The Tigers have seven of the 147 players who became free agents Thursday, under Article XX B of the basic agreement. Those players are free to peddle their services to any club, beginning at 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday.

Before the free-agent period begins, though, teams have a five-day window to make qualifying offers to any free agents they’d like to ensure they keep. The amount of those offers for 2014 — set by the average of the 125 most lucrative contracts in the sport — is $14.1 million.

Any player who accepts the offer stays with the team at that price. Any player who turns it down becomes a free agent. If they then sign with another team, their former team then receives draft pick compensation in next June’s draft.

The deadline for teams to make qualifying offers is 5 p.m. Monday.

If the Tigers do not make a qualifying offer to any of those players, that does not mean they are not wanted back. It just means the team is unwilling to shell out what would be an exorbitant raise for any one of the seven, just to ensure that it will get something in return, if that player should choose to leave.

Given the fact that most of those players are comfortable here, as part of a contending team, that’s not as big a concern as it might be elsewhere.

Most of them want to stay.

For some of them, though, that’s not going to be an option. The team has already said it would not be bringing back Pena, knowing it has in-house solutions like Bryan Holaday and James McCann ready to take his place.

Bonderman, Dotel and Santiago could all end up retiring. None of the three appear to be in the team’s plans going forward, either.

Really, the decision matters most with the three most impactful free agents — Benoit, Peralta and Infante.

Benoit has said in the past he’d like to come back, but the Tigers may have a more cost-effective replacement for him in-house, in Bruce Rondon. They could let him test the open market, or he could decide to himself.

Same with Infante, who would like to stay with the team that signed him as an amateur free agent going on 15 years ago. The Tigers have an in-house replacement who might be ready in Hernan Perez.

Peralta’s already been replaced by Jose Iglesias at shortstop, a move the team was forced to make at the trade deadline in July, when it became obvious Peralta was about to be suspended for violations of the league’s Joint Drug Agreement.

When Peralta did come back for the playoffs, he played primarily in left field.

It’s hard to figure that the Tigers — despite their need for a full-time left fielder — would continue that experiment into next season. Unless Peralta wants to come back as a reserve, it’s likely the Tigers will let him walk, as well.

It’s not a decision based on performance.

Peralta did his part for three and a half seasons, after coming over from Cleveland in an under-the-radar deadline trade in 2010, holding the fort at shortstop until someone better (or younger, or cheaper) came along. He settled what, before that, had been two and a half seasons of struggles at short, once it was determined Carlos Guillen could no longer play that spot.

Infante did the same thing at second base, settling a position that had been in upheaval since Placido Polanco was let go after the 2009 season. The second-base carousel had been especially costly for the Tigers in the first half of the 2012 season, forcing general manager Dave Dombrowski to bring in Infante at the trade deadline. Barring the time he missed with a knee injury in 2013, the position suddenly was the least of the Tigers’ worries, thanks to Infante ‘holding the fort.’

Letting Infante go at this point might merely give Tigers fans flashbacks to the Polanco situation four offseasons ago. Perez filled in for Infante in that absence, and held his own, but is not yet as accomplished a hitter, just like Scott Sizemore, who took over for Polanco.

Benoit also did a wonderful job settling a situation that had been a tremendous concern for the Tigers all of last season (and much of the season prior), taking over the closer’s job just before the All-Star break, and locking it down.

Could they just let Benoit walk, and hand the ball to Rondon? Sure, that’s plausible, especially given how risky it is signing long-term deals with ANY reliever, let alone one who’s going to turn 37 midway through next season.

Given their overwhelming need for any sort of competent relief arms, though, it would be hard to imagine the Tigers don’t want Benoit back at all, as long as the price tag is palatable.

Could they bring Benoit back, to continue to hold the fort, until it’s certain that Rondon’s ready? Certainly.

Same can be said for Infante holding the fort for Perez.

Of the seven impending free agents, it’s most likely that Benoit and Infante will be back. But that’s only if the price is right, which all but rules out either of them receiving a qualifying offer.

Why won’t the Tigers break the bank for those two — or any of their other ‘hold-the-fort’ guys? Because there are a couple of stars — Max Scherzer (after 2014) and Miguel Cabrera (after 2015) — who are both in line for contract extensions.

Any money that’s saved by not bringing back a Benoit or an Infante can be stashed away to help pay one or the other of those impending spending binges.

And if none of the Tigers’ ‘hold-the-fort’ guys come back, it’ll just be someone else’s turn to hold the fort.

Matthew B. Mowery covers the Tigers for Digital First Media. Read his “Out of Left Field” blog at opoutofleftfield.blogspot.com.